Chapter 4

Koma looked like a canvas washed in blood under the night sky.

I was changed into a very thin nightgown.

Cesare's bodyguards shoved me into the top-floor hotel suite where Carlos was staying.

My body burned with cold. The dizziness from sepsis kept me from being conscious.

I was inside the room.

Carlos was shirtless, playing with a high-voltage stun baton in his hand. Bits of skin from some unknown woman were still stuck on it.

"The Cesare kid actually sent me his best treasure this time," said Carlos.

He laughed eerily, causing his body fat to shake.

The air was filled with cheap cologne and a rotten smell.

The drugs fully took effect at that moment.

My body felt overheated, but the fever and wounds left me too weak to fight back.

Carlos was about to put his filthy hands on my chest.

I opened my eyes suddenly.

Using the last bit of strength I had, I grabbed the table lamp and smashed it hard against his head.

Crash! The lamp shattered.

He screamed and fell while I reached under his pillow.

I found a small handgun. A Beretta, to be exact.

I knew it was not loaded, but I still pulled the trigger to scare off the guards who were trying to rush in.

I then stumbled out of the room before I eventually found myself in the hallway.

The sound of leather shoes rushed closer. I could hear Cesare; his furious voice echoed through my earpiece.

"Rene! How dare you hurt Carlos? Your family will die for this!" he threatened.

I laughed bitterly.

'My family? You sent my family to the crematorium in my past life, you madman,' I snarled to myself.

I staggered toward the end of the hallway.

My vision became blurry. Every step felt like dancing on knives because of the wounds on my feet.

The guards pulled the trigger behind me.

Bang!

A bullet grazed my cheek and hit an expensive painting on the wall.

Despair surged like icy water, almost swallowing me whole.

I crashed open a solid wood door at that moment.

It was the executive suite on the top floor, also the only forbidden area in the hotel.

The room was dark with only faint city lights filtered in from outside.

A man sat with his back to me in a high-backed leather chair with a glass of red wine in his hand. His presence was intimidating, suffocating.

The footsteps behind me reached the door.

I had no time to think, so I locked the door immediately.

I did not care who he was. I rushed forward.

Then, I clung tightly to his leg and lifted my face, which was drenched in cold sweat and flushed red from fever.

Tears slid down my cheeks. My voice trembled with desperation and dangerous softness.

"Save me… I'll do anything as long as you save me.

"I'm Cesare Xandri's woman… I'm the best bargaining chip if you want to humiliate him…" I begged.

His hand, which was holding the wine glass, paused slightly.

He slowly turned his head.

That cold and restrained face of his was perfect, like a marble statue.

It made me freeze in place.

He was Wade Ferrani, the ruler of the ancient Corleone family in Ithel.

He was the mafia boss Cesare had desperately tried to butter up, yet never got to meet.

He looked down at me, his gaze as cold as ice.

"Cesare's woman?" he repeated.

His long fingers lifted my chin. A faint and amused smile curved his lips.

"You brought this on yourself," he said.